In a surprising turn of events, Romania's 36-year-old Sorana Cîrstea upset world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the WTA 1000 clay court tournament in Rome. The Belarusian, who is the top seed, lost to Cîrstea 6-2, 3-6, 5-7. Sabalenka began the match strongly but appeared to struggle with an injury, taking a medical timeout when Cîrstea led 4-3 in the third set. Cîrstea, who is set to retire later this year, secured her first career victory over the world No. 1. Sabalenka managed to level the third set at 5-5, but Cîrstea eventually prevailed.

In the fourth round, Cîrstea will face 13th seed Linda Nosková of the Czech Republic, who defeated Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliinykova 6-1, 6-3. American Coco Gauff also advanced after defeating Argentina’s Solana Sierra 5-7, 6-0, 6-4. Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, the ninth seed and last year’s champion, disappointed the home crowd by losing to Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-7(5), 3-6. Latvian Elena Ostapenko, ranked 36th in the world, also advanced to the fourth round, defeating Chinese player Qinwen Zheng 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Ostapenko will face the winner of the match between Russian Anna Kalinskaya and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.